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Free-agent quarterback Kirk Cousins and the Vikings brain trust had dinner Wednesday night in Minneapolis. Wined and dined? Check, check. Signed? Not yet, but stay tuned Thursday, GM Rick Spielman said.
Had a great visit, Cousins told reporters (via the Twin Cities Pioneer Press). Looking forward to (Thursday). Going to be able to see more of the city and the facility. It’s a great organization and my wife and I are thrilled to be here.

That the welcoming dinner was at The Capital Grille has a certain irony. Cousins, 29, played his first six seasons in nation’s capital with the Redskins. After becoming the regular starter in 2015, he has thrown for 4,000 or more yards and 25 or more touchdowns in three straight seasons.

Barring an unexpected bump, Cousins will be the Vikings starter. Meantime, as the new league year opened Wednesday, Minnesota acquired Cousins’ likely backup, Trevor Siemian, who has been the primary starter the past two seasons for the Broncos 锟斤拷 until Case Keenum, who led the Vikings to the NFC championship last season, signed with Denver.Elite Mens Jacob McQuaide Jersey
Despite his desire to remain with the team, a new agreement could not be reached.

Mathieu, 25, had a monster season in 2015 when he recorded 89 total tackles, five interceptions and 17 pass breakups to earn a Pro Bowl selection. However, his production has been on the decline in recent years and he finished last season with one sack, two picks and seven pass breakups.Ricardo Allen Womens Jersey
This is the fourth in a series looking at positional needs for the Detroit Lions in free agency.

Boston Celtics guard Marcus Smart has a tendon injury in his right thumb, and the team is still determining whether he’ll need to miss extended time due to the injury, league sources told ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.Youth Jason Demers Jersey Smart injured his thumb diving to the floor during Sunday’s loss to the Indiana Pacers. He had the thumb taped and returned to finish the game.

Celtics coach Brad Stevens didn’t have an update on Irving at Monday’s practice, but when asked about bringing him back, he noted the team would likely tread slowly.

Added Stevens: We’ve [mapped out rest] pretty consistently [when Irving has been sore]. We’ve said if we need to rest, or the knee becomes an issue, then automatically everything stops, and we go from there. What we’re really focused on now is making sure that knee feels as good as possible heading into April. I don’t know what that means from the Ronnie Stanley Youth jersey standpoint of playing this week, next week, any of that stuff.

Gonzalez had a $20 million salary last year in the final season of an $80 million, seven-year contract and became a free agent after nine seasons with the Rockies. The three-time Gold Glove outfielder struggled for most of last season as the Rockies returned to the postseason for the first time since 2009. He showed signs of breaking out of his funk down the stretch, though, hitting six of his 14 homers in September.

With the Cavaliers mired in a two-game losing streak, dropping their record to just 6-6 since February’s trade deadline, Cleveland coach Tyronn Lue decided to shake up his team again by bringing JR Smith off the bench against the Suns on Tuesday and starting Kyle Korver in his place.

Mens Brian Gionta Jersey Korver will be replaced in the starting lineup by Rodney Hood whenever Hood’s sore lower back feels well enough to play. Hood went through shootaround Tuesday but was ruled out of the game.

The 49ers got that done with plenty of time to spare, dishing out a record-breaking five-year, $137.5 million deal in early February. It frees up the tag to be used on running back Carlos Hyde or safety Eric Reid. The problem for both is that the emergence of younger players like Matt Breida and Jaquiski Tartt could make the 49ers hesitant to commit that much to Hyde or Reid.
Team president Bruce Allen has reportedly floated the idea of using the tag on Kirk Cousins to facilitate a trade. That’s a wild idea but also a risky one that could 锟斤拷 and probably would 锟斤拷 blow up in Washington’s face. If the team is able to recognize that, it’ll steer clear.

Two of Cousins’ teammates carried him off the floor, and shortly after the game the bad news came. Cousins had Brandon Morrow Jersey suffered a season-ending left Achilles tear, an injury with far-reaching impact on not only the big man himself, but also the future of the franchise.Authentic Womens David Desharnais JerseyAuthentic Youth Sonny Jurgensen Jersey With Cousins out for the next six to 10 months, here are three big questions worth exploring 锟斤拷 but unlikely to be answered for quite some time:

On the first offensive possession in a Week 13 against the Cincinnati Bengals, Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker Ryan Shazier suffered a serious back injury on an attempt to make a tackle. He was later taken to the hospital. He’s since had surgery to address the issue, and continues on what figures to be a long road to recovery.

Unfortunately Ryan will not be able to contribute on the field during the remainder of this season, Steelers President Art Rooney II said of the team’s decision to put him on injured reserve in December. However, even off the field Ryan will continue to be one of our team leaders. We know his spirit and positive outlook will help him to continue in his recovery, as well as serve as an inspiration to our team.

The two-time Western Conference All-Star has been snubbed — in his mind — from the team the last two seasons, and he doesn’t really understand why.

“He plays for the Los Angeles Lakers, one of the most, if not the most, storied franchises in that big of a market,” Lillard said. “So, so many people are going to support him throughout that, and also with his dad and all the attention that’s been surrounding him since college.

“There’s a lot of people that follow him, so, that’s not really a surprise to me. The market size and what’s going on with his family, it’s no surprise really to me.”

Lillard has battled injuries this season, forcing him to miss seven games, but he has played at an All-Star level and should get a spot at least as a reserve.

“I’m trying not to think (about facing his former team),” Miller said. “I did not think I would be facing the Rangers so soon. It’s going to be weird for my ex-teammates and my buddies. I don’t even know what to think, to be honest. It’s going to be pretty wild.”

McDonagh will miss the chance to face his former team while he continues to recover from an upper body injury that has kept him out since the first week of February. The 28-year-old former Rangers’ captain has been participating in practice with Tampa Bay while wearing a no-contact jersey. McDonagh is expected to be ready to return by early next week to make his Lightning debut, with the hope he can help improve Tampa Bay’s defensive play, which has slipped in recent weeks.

The Rangers, meanwhile, are starting to see their already slim playoff hopes start to fade away coming off a 3-0 loss at home to the Winnipeg Jets on Tuesday. New York sits seven points out of the second wild card spot with 15 games left to play.

Central Florida linebacker Shaquem Griffin vowed before the NFL scouting combine opened that something special’s coming soon. On Saturday, he began fulfilling that promise.Richard Rodgers Mens Jersey Griffin, who according to the NFL is attempting to become the first player with one hand to be drafted into the league in the modern era, got a roar from the fans in the bleachers when he put up 20 repetitions of 225 pounds in the bench press. The reaction was, by far, the loudest Dontae Johnson Authentic Jersey any player has received to this point in the open-to-the-public portion of the testing.

With a new offensive coordinator, and a decidedly muted public stance from coach Mike Zimmer, it’s clear that Keenum’s return is far from guaranteed. Would the Vikings move on from a quarterback who finished the season with the NFL’s second-highest Total QBR (69.5) and led them to the NFC Championship Game? At the very least, the Vikings don’t value Keenum enough to lock him down with a franchise tag.

Norwell picked a pretty good year to earn his first All-Pro honors. When you look at the five-year, $60 million deal the Browns gave to Kevin Zeitler (who has never made All-Pro or even the Pro Bowl) in 2017, you understand the value Norwell would find on the open market.

Limited Mats Zuccarello Jersey This marks the third straight year the Rams have placed the franchise tag on a defensive back. Cornerback Trumaine Johnson had received the tag the past two offseasons. He will be an unrestricted free agent on March 14 when the new league year begins.

The Rams’ decision to franchise Joyner also means that wide receiver Sammy Watkins will be an unrestricted free agent next week. The Rams’ franchise decision came down to Joyner or Watkins.

Watkins is open to returning to the Rams but also anticipates a strong market in free agency, a source told ESPN’s Josina Anderson.

Because the team is using its non-exclusive tag, Joyner is free to sign an offer sheet with another team. Should the Rams choose not to match an offer sheet for Joyner, they would be due two first-round draft picks from his new team.

Former Penn State running back Saquon Barkley might not Chris Thompson Youth jersey be everything the Browns want, but he’s everything they need.
The Browns have been asking that question with quarterbacks since 1999, but there isn’t one overnight franchise-saving quarterback in the first round. Darnold, Rosen or Oklahoma’s Baker Mayfield might be good in time. Cleveland needs to address quarterback with one of those two picks, but it doesn’t necessarily have to be No. 1.

Cleveland can pass on Fitzpatrick or Bradley Chubb. They are defensive players, and the Browns got their franchise-building guy on that side of the ball last season by drafting Myles Garrett with the No. 1 overall pick. He was the most gifted player in last year’s draft, and he showed it with a rookie season in which he finished with seven sacks in 11 games. It wouldn’t be a surprise if Garrett doubled that total next year.

Ondrej Kase Jersey Of all those players the Browns have passed on in the draft, which name pops up most? Julio Jones is one. Cleveland traded the No. 6 pick to Atlanta in 2011, and the Falcons ended up with one of the best receivers in the NFL. Almost every time Jones makes an acrobatic catch, a Browns fan laments what might have been.

After falling to the Rockets the night Butler went down, the Wolves rebounded with consecutive wins against the Bulls and Kings, two teams that are aiming more for lottery balls than wins, then dropped a close game in Portland. In those three games, they posted a defensive rating of 100.7, good for sixth-best in the NBA in that span, and a significant improvement over their 108.6 defensive rating in the first 62 games of the season. However, the quality of upcoming opponents will put that improvement to the test.

As tempting as Cousins is to serve as a quick fix, his cost would hamper the team’s ability to get additional veteran offensive skill players for short-term return. The alternative is being a little more patient with a promising rookie and using the extra funds to give him a more experienced support system.

Jared Veldheer Youth Jersey Cousins would represent control of the situation; a chance for the Jets to know exactly what they’re getting in March vs. the uncertainty of the draft in April. Oklahoma’s Baker Mayfield is a popular first-round mock draft pick to the Jets, but that could change during the scouting process. Wyoming’s Josh Allen or USC’s Sam Darnold could end up being a big slider, or Louisville’s Lamar Jackson could become a big riser. Because of that unpredictability, Maccagnan, Bowles and Bates would need to settle on several would-be rookie solutions knowing their top option might not be an option at all.

Former Carolina Panthers safety Kurt Coleman reached a three-year agreement early Saturday with the New Orleans Saints, a source told ESPN’s Adam Schefter.
Coleman stays in NFC South at a time when New Orleans is expected to lose free-agent safety Kenny Vaccaro.

The Panthers released Coleman on Feb. 26, clearing $2.65 million in salary-cap space.

Mens Ronald Darby Jersey Coleman, who will turn 30 in July, signed a three-year extension with the Panther in 2016 worth $17 million with $7 million guaranteed.

The Flyers already addressed their biggest area of need (goaltending) in acquiring Petr Mrazek from the Detroit Red Wings. While Philly is (quite incredibly) poised for the playoffs, maybe now is the time to go for a big name.Sergio Romo Limited Jersey
We know the Sharks need help at center, and they acquired a fourth-line option in veteran Eric Fehr from Toronto. Is that their big move? Maybe. But we don’t know whether it’s enough.

When Nazem Kadri ripped out a chunk of Joe Thornton’s beard last month, we’ll be honest: We thought it was pretty gross. So we asked NHL players to share the most disgusting things they’ve seen during a game. Warning: Don’t read this on an empty stomach.

However, that only puts even more emphasis on evaluating the hidden gems that hit the market. A good free-agent signing on a cheap contract can put a team ahead of the curve just as well as hitting on a good quarterback prospect — particularly if he is still young enough to be in his prime.

In building this list, I find myself looking more and more at injured players each year. Injuries are big factors for NFL front offices, but they also represent a buying opportunity for other teams. The fear of the unknown is a great place to find a bargain. As such, some of this list will bomb, while some of it will flourish. C’est la vie. Better to release a guy early and free up a roster spot than spend three years with an unplayable Chad Henne, talking up Brandon Sutter Jersey his intangibles.

An absolute non-factor in fantasy for the first three months of the season, Vlasic has now been enjoying a sustained hot streak that forces him into the rankings. That’s despite the fact that he has a documented 11-year NHL career with little to no fantasy relevance to show for it. But, since Jan. 1, Vlasic has 18 points in 23 games, including five multi-point contests. He had only two multi-point games all of last season and none prior to January this season.

In a way, there are actually really two broad perspectives on time: One is the physical, the other is psychological, Mallett says. By the physical, what I mean is the perspective that physics has on it, which is independent of us.

James added that roughly half of the championship teams during his career thus far — six out of 14 — have come from the supposedly weaker East.

I’ve been a part of the Eastern Conference my whole career and we’ve been very, very competitive, James said. There’s been years where we weren’t as good. If I can think from once I got into the league, it’s been us, I’ve done it three times, Detroit, Boston, Miami in ’06, that’s like [six] championships out of 14 years. That’s [about] half, right? So what are we talking about?

An NBA-record seven teams are at least 20 games below .500 at the All-Star break. And those seven teams will face one another a combined 17 more times, which is when we may learn the true depths of this year’s tanking.

Not only do the current standings have an unprecedented logjam at the bottom, but many experts anticipate a loaded NBA draft, assuming certain underclassmen declare.

“You can probably get five franchise-changing players this year,” ESPN NBA analyst Jalen Rose told host Bob Ley on Outside the Lines this week. “[Tanking is] almost worth it for those teams.”

Hornacek will likely use some combination of Ntilikina, Burke and Mudiay regularly in the backcourt.

After averaging 19.2 PPG, 17.4 FGA and 3.3 FTA in January, Andrew Wiggins has averaged just 12.9 PPG, 12.7 FGA and 1.4 FTA in seven games this month. What is the likelihood he returns to his January-level production?

Steph was incredible as he always is, Clippers guard Austin Rivers said.
Tobias Harris scored 22 points, Gallinari wound up with 15 and DeAndre Jordan had 14 points and 14 rebounds for Los Angeles, which had won five of six.

We need every point that we can get at this point, Blackhawks right winger Patrick Kane said. There’s still belief in this locker room. Obviously, we have to go on a run and have a big record down the stretch, but we’ll take it a game at a time.

In Friday’s win over the Sharks, defenseman Jan Rutta scored a goal in his return from injured reserve, Nick Schmaltz added a goal on his 22nd birthday, and goaltender Jean-Francois Berube came close to a shutout while making a career-high 42 saves in his first start for the Blackhawks after being called up from the AHL.

Jean-Francois Berube had a good time in his return to the NHL — at the San Jose Sharks expense.

Berube made 42 saves in his first start for Chicago and the Blackhawks beat the San Jose Sharks 3-1 on Friday night.

It was fun, Berube said. I’m just going out there and enjoying the moment.

The 26-year-old Berube, recalled from Rockford of the AHL last week, appeared in one previous game for Chicago this season in relief of Anton Forsberg on Dec. 6. He hadn’t started in the NHL since Feb. 19, 2017, as a member of the New York Islanders.

It’s been a while, Berube said. I felt comfortable from the moment the puck was dropped. Just have to build on it, keep working on little details and try to improve my game as much as possible.Game Mens Fran Tarkenton Jersey

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Still, right now the catch means something very substantial. It represents all of those ideas and beliefs, still 锟斤拷 not the bland, commercial versions of them. After the game, Pederson talked with his team about their disagreements on small things like the dress code and his calls for discipline … before reminding them that their win is a reward for the understanding of the necessity of those small things. That play even symbolizes that, as the team believed in the leadership of the coach who then trusted and gave his players chances to shine.
New England’s protections made the job that much easier. Over and over again the Patriots used seven-man protections. The running backs chipped defenders as they ran their routes.

We knew Brady was going to get the ball out quick, Barnett said. We just didn’t want to give him easy seven-on-sevens. You can’t get to the quarterback when he’s throwing it quick.Andrew Billings Jersey
More than seven years later, McDaniels had a second chance as a head coach with the Colts hiring him to replace Chuck Pagano, However, McDaniels threw a total wrench into plans by spurning the Colts and staying with Darron Lee Womens Jersey New England.

McDaniels has spent the past six years as the Patriots’ offensive coordinator, drawing up plays for a team that’s advanced to the AFC championship or Super Bowl each year in his tenure.

It was a potentially high-profile signing for a franchise that was one of New England’s biggest rivals throughout the 2000s. McDaniels re-established himself as a commodity in Foxborough and interviewed for multiple positions in 2016 and 2017. But now the Colts are back at square one when McDaniels turned them down.

Lynch was happy not to have to franchise tag Garoppolo, which would have kept the QB’s contract situation hanging over the team throughout 2018. With the former Patriots backup having won all seven of his NFL starts and Lynch being saluted for pulling off a steal in the trade, there was no other choice but to pay the piper.

Lynch and 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan were all smiles at the press conference to announce the Garoppolo signing. Life was good in 49erland.